Former “Growing Pains” star
Santorum wins primaries in at least Football starts spring practice in
Kirk Cameron receives downpour of three states during Super Tuesday
preparation for another season in
feedback for his anti-gay comments against other presidential candidates the Big 12
Vol. 113 No. 28

Video game research assesses
whether games are more
enjoyable than actual athletics

Distemper virus threatens local dogs
By Rob Bradfield

Staff Writer

Page 4

>> Bears land home run
Softball goes head-to-head
against Virginia Tech at the
Baylor Ballpark

Page 5
>> Agent MIA

$1 million reward for
information or recovery of
former special agent Robert
Levinson

Page 3

On the Web

Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor

A severe outbreak of distemper has been affecting the dog community at
local shelters in Waco.

Photo of the day
Senior Sona Novakova
returns the ball against
Northwestern on Sunday at
the Baylor Tennis Center.
The Bears won 4-2.

baylorlariat.com

Viewpoints
“If students
are willing to put
themselves on
the Internet and
criticize their
university, they
should have that
right. No matter
how critical
students are of
their universities
on any given issue,
they can and
should say what’s
on their minds.”
Page 2

Bear Briefs
The place to go to know
the places to go

To the ballgame

Baylor baseball will play
against Michigan State
from 6:35 to 9:35 p.m. today at the Baylor Ballpark.
Tickets can be bought in
the box office of the Bill
Daniel Student Center or
online at baylorbears.com

History as we know it

The history department
will continue its Charles
Edmondson Historical
Lectures at 3:30 p.m. today
in 100 Morrison Hall. Dr.
Donald J. Raleigh will
speak on “Russia’s Cold
War Generation and the
End of the Soviet Dream.”
This event is free and open
to the public.

baylorlariat.com

No one adopting a puppy expects it to die after two weeks, but
that is exactly what happened to
several Baylor students.
Horseshoe Bay sophomore
Lesley Lowry adopted a 6-monthold lab mix from the Humane
Society of Central Texas at the
beginning of the fall 2011 semester. Soon after she got it home, the
dog became lethargic and began
finding places to cower.
Several days later the dog was
very clearly sick. It’s nose was dry,
oozing mucus and the dog was
having trouble eating.
According to veterinarians,
Lowry’s dog was suffering from
canine distemper — a highly contagious disease that can be fatal to
unvaccinated dogs.
Lowry’s story is not an isolated
incident. According to Dr. LuAnn
Ervin, owner of the Texas Animal
Medical Center, the Waco area

has been in the grip of a canine
distemper outbreak for nearly a
year. Symptoms of distemper have
been seen in dogs from across the
area, and of different age groups.
The Texas Animal Medical
Center normally sees no more
than two or three cases each year,
but last year’s total neared 30.
This year Ervin has already
treated six dogs with symptoms
of distemper, and as the weather
gets warmer and more humid she
expects to see more.
“It’s a viral infection, so the
disease can spread like wildfire,”
Ervin said.
Canine distemper is an airborne disease and can be transmitted between dogs very easily
through contact or simply sharing space.
Symptoms include fever, diarrhea, difficulty breathing, lethargy, dry nose, mucus from the
eyes and nostrils, and jaw spasms
called “chewing-gum fits.” Treatments are available. Lowry spent

nearly $400 on them, but there
are limits to what veterinarians
can do.
The best way to treat a dog with
distemper, according to Kristen
Dodson of the Hewitt Veterinary
Hospital, is to make sure it doesn’t
get it in the first place.
“I’d really stress that everybody gets their pets vaccinated,”
Dodson said.
According to Ervin, the mortality rate for young dogs can be
as high as 90 percent.
While puppies are the most
likely to contract the disease, sick
or old dogs are also at risk.
The best way to ensure containment is to isolate any new
dogs for a short period before taking them out in public, and making sure all dogs are vaccinated.
“Everybody wants to see the
new puppy, but it would be best
not to take them out before getting them two or three vaccines,”
SEE

The Texas Department of
Public Safety and the Baylor Police Department urge students to
avoid going to Mexico for spring
break because of the increased
violence in the country.
The Texas DPS issued a warning Tuesday about going to any
part of Mexico, including resort
areas.
Drug cartel violence and other
criminal activity remains a significant safety threat in the country,
despite progress made in battling
those issues, DPS director Steven
C. McCraw said in a press release.
“The Mexican government has
made great strides battling the
cartels, and we commend their
continued commitment to making Mexico a safer place to live
and visit,” McCraw said.
Narcotics deals often lead to
violence such as homicides, the
release stated. It also said bars,
nightclubs and resorts are “havens for drug dealers and petty
criminals,” and that resort areas
have had an increase in rape and
assault cases.
The Baylor Police support the
Department of Public Safety’s
warning against traveling to the
country, Baylor Police Chief Jim
Doak said.
In the first nine months of
2011, 12,900 people were killed in
Mexico, Doak said.
“We are concerned for our
students and we want all our students to return after spring break,”
Doak said.

Students thinking about going to Mexico should consider the
dangers of their trip, even if they
are staying in a resort area that
was safe in the past, Doak said.
He said all travelers must research
their travel plans and make sure
they know what they might be
headed into.
“If they do go, there is nothing the police department can do
about it,” Doak said, referencing
the decreased access to help that
students may have in Mexico.
Doak said the slaughter in
Mexico is “senseless” and students
need to apply common sense at
the highest level when considering going there. If students go,
Doak said, they should leave
their information with family and
friends so someone can know
where they are.
Waco senior Skyy Walton and
New York senior Patricia Konowal were aware of the violence
in Mexico but decided a cruise
would avoid much of the problem
by decreasing the amount of time
they will spend on land, Walton
said. She and Konowal will stop in
Cozumel to visit the beaches, and
then they will go to Progresso to
visit the Mayan ruins.
Walton said her plans for staying safe are to stay in a big group
and not go far inland. She said the
ruins are the farthest they are going inland in Mexico.
“I am a little nervous about
going to Mexico, but I think we’ll
be fine because we’re going on a
cruise,” Walton said.

Action on the field

Meagan Downing | Lariat Photographer

Houston freshmen Will Lindsey and Amira Lewally keep their eyes on the ball during a game of soccer
Tuesday at Bear Park.

Trombone player to compete
against 1,000 others in Paris
By Kayla Reeves
Reporter

One Baylor freshman will play
his trombone at an international
competition in Paris this summer.
Niceville, Fla., freshman Stephen Farrell, a trombone major,
is one of three finalists in the Gilberto Gagliardi Trombone Competition, an annual contest meant
to find the best tenor trombone
players age 18 and under.
The finalists will compete for
further recognition at the International Trombone Festival on
July 5 in Paris.
Associate professor of trombone Brent Phillips teaches Farrell, along with two other Baylor
students who placed in other age
groups of the Gagliardi competi-

tion, and one who got honorable
mention in Farrell’s age range.
Phillips said he encourages his
students to compete and audition
in order to test their skills.
Farrell beat out young musicians from all over the world in
the Gagliardi competition by submitting a recorded solo piece with
piano accompaniment.
Farrell said it took several
months to practice the song —
“Piece Concertante” by Samuel
Rousseau — and find a pianist to
accompany him.
He said he rented out Roxy
Grove Hall from 8 p.m. to midnight two nights in a row and recorded his piece about 30 times.
“It’s an enjoyable process,” Farrell said. “You get a lot better by
listening to all the recordings and

figuring out what you like and
don’t like about them.”
Phillips said he knew Farrell
had a good shot at winning because of his dedication.
“It’s not always about who has
the skill; it’s who has the work
ethic,” Phillips said. “Stephen
outworked everybody else. He’s
dedicated.”
This summer, Farrell will play
a new piece from memory in
front of new judges, while being
around “probably about 1,000 of
the very best trombone players in
the world,” Phillips said.
“It’s a lot more pressure,” Farrell said. “I get one shot to play it.”
But for now, with the competiSEE

PARIS, page 3

SAE, Baylor Activities Council to hold second Salsa Fest
By Bre Nichols
Reporter

Sigma Alpha Epsilon and the Baylor
Activities Council are teaming up to present the second annual Salsa Fest from 6
to 10 p.m. Thursday, which will feature a
salsa-tasting contest, free food and live entertainment from a local cover band.
The event will take place in Traditions
Plaza between the Bill Daniel Student Center and Carroll Science Building.
All funds raised at the event will benefit SAE’s philanthropy, the local Boys and
Girls Clubs of America.
The organization’s website states itsmission is to provide children with an after-

Newspaper of the Year | Texas APME

school program that gives them “a safe
place to learn and grow— all while having
fun.”
This year, SAE decided to partner with
the Baylor Activities Council in hopes of
“expanding the event and making it bigger,”
said Sophia Cooper, a sophomore from
Saratoga, Calif., and the program coordinator for BAC.
“We’re going to have Nolan Pick and the
Sawdust Junkies — a local cover band —
free chips and salsa, free snow cones from
Penguin Pete’s, and you can’t have a Baylor
event without Dr Pepper,” Cooper said.
Houston sophomores JC Rodriguez and
John Reul served as Salsa Fest chairs to help
plan this year’s event.

TheLariat

Rodriguez, also the SAE philanthropy
chair, said the fraternity liked the idea of
having a salsa fest as a fundraiser, and this
year it is hoping to engage more of the student population.
“After last year, we really wanted it to
grow and get bigger so it could become
a campuswide event,” Rodriguez said.
“Twenty teams participated last year and
this year, we’re hoping to have 30 to 35.”
Twenty teams have already signed up to
participate in this year’s salsa contest, and
more students have emailed wanting to
sign up teams, he said.
Teams are allowed to have up to four
members, and the entrance fee for each
team is $25.

Teams can sign up until noon Thursday
by emailing JC_Rodriguez@baylor.edu.
“You come with the salsa already prepared, and then we will have four judges
that will taste the salsa. And then teams
will be placed in different categories such
as spiciest, best overall, craziest or wackiest
ingredient,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said he wants everyone to
come out and enjoy themselves and to have
“one last hurrah before spring break.”
For more information, visit the Campus Program Center located in the SUB
or email JC_Rodriguez@baylor.edu or
Sophia_Cooper@baylor.edu.

Best Student Newspaper | Houston Press Club

PA

2 | Baylor Lariat
the

Opinion

WEDNESDAY | MARCH 7, 2012

www.baylorlariat.com

Schools shouldn’t
have to make up
for bad parenting
There comes a point in every
teenager’s life when everything,
simply put, sucks. School, friends,
parents and everything else seems
to have a deliberate and vicious
agenda against your happiness.
Problems – emotional, physical
and intellectual – abound as we
try to figure out who we are.
As we enter adulthood, the
goal is to become wiser, calmer,
more logical and not so self-centered. Unfortunately the parents
of Kathleen Mulvey in Orland
Park, Ill., seemed to have missed
that step.
Kathleen Mulvey was a student at Carl Sandburg High
School, struggling to make her
way like any other teenager on the
face of the planet. Huffington Post
reported that Mulvey endured
“intense bullying” by other girls
on the basketball team. Mulvey’s

“This is a matter of
accountability. It’s a
matter of common
sense on the part of
the parents.”
parents say that both Kathleen
and her sister were bullied several
times but the coach did nothing
to stop it.
In one such incident in June
2009, Kathleen was pushed by a
teammate during basketball practice, giving her a severed tendon
in her right foot. It is now three
years after the incident, and Kathleen and her family are suing the
basketball coach and Carl Sandburg High School $500,000.
If that amount seems excessive
to you, don’t worry. It did to me
too. In determining the lawsuit
amount, Mulvey’s parents have
factored in the cost of surgery,
physical therapy and psychological trauma as a result of the post
traumatic stress disorder Mulvey
was reportedly diagnosed with.
They also added the $50,000 it
cost for them to relocate Mulvey
to a private East Coast school.
My outrage at this situation
isn’t about the money. Though
the amount demanded in the
lawsuit seems excessive, it may
in fact be an accurate account of
the damages incurred by a series
of incidents. Without having seen
the actual lawsuit, one can never

Ashley Davis | News editor

know. The bulk of my umbrage
is directed towards the audacity
of Mulvey’s parents in suing the
coach and the school instead of
the other player’s parents.
Mulvey’s mother, Ellen, said
in an interview with CBS Chicago, “The coach [Chris Hellrung]
knew what was going on. He saw
it on a daily basis; he heard it. If
this is accurate, then Mulvey’s
parents also knew what was going
on and were either too distracted
or too lazy to stop it themselves.
As parents, it is their job to
intervene when a situation has
obviously gone too far, not the
school. Mulvey’s mother reported
that Kathleen would come home
depressed and would have trouble
sleeping several nights at a time.
These aren’t symptoms of post
traumatic stress disorder – these
are symptoms of being a high
school student. Heck, they’re
symptoms of life.
This is a matter of accountability. It’s a matter of common
sense on the part of the parents.
There are several alternatives in
this situation that would have
saved Mulvey a lot of heartache
and allowed Joseph and Ellen a
little more pride as parents.
Every parent has their own
way of preparing their children
for the outside world. My mother
always told me to either ignore it
or duke it out in the playground
with a dance-off when dealing
with a bully.
I made up the dance-off part.
– my mother was a little more
frank with her word choice. But I
digress. My point is that Mulvey’s
parents seemed to have missed
addressing that crucial part of
parenting.
Ashley Davis is a junior journalism major from Killeen and is
the Lariat’s news editor.

Letters to the editor should
be no more than 300 words
and should include the writer’s
name, hometown, major,
graduation year, phone number
and student identification
number. Non-student writers
should include their address.
Letters that focus on an issue
affecting students or faculty
may be considered for a guest
column at the editor’s discretion.
All submissions become the
property of The Baylor Lariat.
The Lariat reserves the right to
edit letters for grammar, length,
libel and style. Letters should be
emailed to
Lariat_Letters@baylor.edu.

WKU set unfair social media policy
Editorial
If you’re a student at Western
Kentucky University, you criticize your school using social media and the university doesn’t like
it, tough luck.
Western Kentucky has come
under scrutiny for its social media policy, which could lead to
students being disciplined for
saying disparaging marks about
the university.
The student handbook reads
“accessible
communications
deemed inappropriate may lead
to disciplinary action.”
Western Kentucky’s student
newspaper, the College Heights
Herald, highlighted the policy
after the university asked Twitter
to shut down an account called
@PimpRansdell, which parodied
university president Gary Ransdell.
After the account’s founder
made adjustments to the account,
including uploading a new photo
that censored Ransdell’s face and
changing the description to say

“This is a parody account. Not
affiliated with Dr. Ransdell or
WKU,” the account was reactivated.
While the university said
the account was deactivated for
trademark infringement and not
the fact that it was a parody site,
the account was still shut down
as part of Western Kentucky’s efforts to monitor its students’ social media usage.
We question Western Kentucky’s stance on social media
and believe it could set a restrictive precedent for students. It
could even be unconstitutional.
Adam Goldstein, attorney
advocate with the Student Press
Law Center, told the Herald that
Western Kentucky’s policy violates the Constitution and cannot
be enforced as long as Western
Kentucky is a public university.
“As long as the word ‘inappropriate’ is there, that just means
we’re going to punish whatever
we don’t like, and as the government you positively cannot do
that ever,” Goldstein said.
Regardless of the constitutionality of Western Kentucky’s

social media policy, such a policy
defeats one of the purposes of
college. Students are supposed to
think critically, and sometimes
that involves criticizing one’s own
institution in hopes of enacting
change.
At Baylor, we acknowledge we
attend a private university and
could be subject to restrictive social media policies. We can only
hope that Baylor does not enact
such a policy.
Of course there is responsibility. Sometimes it’s obvious that a
criticism or parody contains vulgarity, such as one of @PimpRansdell’s tweets that read, “I will only
be happy with 3D TVs when they
start making 3D porn.”
The aforementioned tweet
clearly had no critical value, but
what happens if a profanity-laced
comment was intended to be
analytical? Ask WKU senior Josh
Newman, who had to go in front
of Western Kentucky Judicial Affairs for Twitter comments he
made on the night of Jan. 5. Newman made “vulgar comments,”
according to the Herald, about
WKU’s athletics director, Ross

Lariat Letters: UC Davis editorial misinformed
In the Lariat’s editorial “Police Shouldn’t Pepper
Spray Peaceful Protesters” published last Thursday,
the author reflected a poor knowledge of the true facts
surrounding the event at UC Davis, instead repeating
the false rhetoric so widely circulated by the Occupy
Movement.
The article states, “The videos show a sickening
display of unnecessary police force against a group of
students simply expressing their views.” That is dreadfully misleading. Take note of this brief overview of
the actual events that occurred at UC Davis.
The day before, Nov. 17, campus police sent out
emails and warned students that all tents on campus
would be removed the next day. UC Davis is fully
within its rights to ban students from camping out in
the middle of campus for obvious health and safety

the

Baylor Lariat | STAFF LIST

reasons. On Nov. 18, hundreds of students ran around
the university in the name of “free speech,” banging
on classroom doors and screaming, “We are the 99
percent!” Causing as much of a disruption as possible,
the protesters eventually gathered in the field, where,
as they had warned, the police began confiscating the
tents and arresting only the students who refused to
leave their tents.
In the video, we then see hundreds of protesters
surround the police completely, screaming “F*** the
police.” They begin making demands, threatening,
“We will not let you leave unless you let our friends
go.” The circle refuses to part, trapping the officers inside of hundreds of screaming students.
The actual event depicted in the popular picture
took place as a police car tried to get to the scene to

take the arrested students away. The students refused
to move, blocking the car outside and the police inside their circle. An officer spoke to the students in
the way, telling them directly that unless they let the
police car through, they would be pepper-sprayed.
After multiple warnings, the students responded with
cheers and anger.
Surrounding the police and threatening them was
not “a simple expression of views.” The police were
trying to leave the scene – but the students trapped
them, knowing exactly that they would be able to manipulate the public to believe exactly the position of
the Lariat’s article.

Bjork. Newman urged Bjork to
fire the men’s basketball coach,
Ken McDonald.
The tweets are no longer visible on Newman’s Twitter feed,
but Newman did tweet to Bjork
on Jan. 6, “I’m sorry for the tone
of my tweets last night, not for
their content. I believe in you as
an AD, but Ken has to go.”
Coincidentally,
McDonald
was fired that day.
Western Kentucky is right
about one thing. As the university’s executive vice president of
the Student Government Association, Kendrick Bryan, told the
Herald, “WKU students need to
watch themselves, be more careful. Employers and others view
those accounts.”
But if students are willing to
put themselves on the Internet
and criticize their university, they
should have that right. No matter
how critical students are of their
universities on any given issue,
they can and should say what’s
on their minds.
Otherwise, those students
aren’t really using their minds at
all.

Sports writer
Krista Pirtle

Photographer
David Li

Photographer
Matthew McCarroll

Ad Representative
Victoria Carroll

Delivery
Brent Nine
*Denotes member
of editorial board

Ad Representative
Chase Parker
Delivery
Dustin Ingold

Follow the Lariat on
Twitter: @bulariat

Opinion
The Baylor Lariat
welcomes reader
viewpoints through
letters to the editor
and guest columns.
Opinions expressed
in the Lariat are not
necessarily those of
the Baylor administration, the Baylor
Board of Regents or
the Student Publications Board.

WASHINGTON — FBI Director Robert Mueller made a personal plea Tuesday for the safe
return of a former FBI agent who
vanished in Iran five years ago, announcing a $1 million reward for
information leading to his location
and recovery.
The reward, coupled with a
new publicity campaign across
southwest Asia, represents the latest high-profile effort by the FBI
Associated Press
to determine Robert Levinson’s
Republican presidential candidate and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, celebrates with his wife, Karen,
whereabouts.
at his election night rally Tuesday at Steubenville High School in Steubenville, Ohio.
The private investigator, who
spent more than two decades with
the FBI, disappeared from the Iranian island of Kish. Friday marks
the five-year anniversary of his disappearance.
“We in the FBI are working
every day to bring your husband,
your father and your grandfather
By David Espo
first victory of the campaign sea- stake in the 10 states.
back home to you,” Mueller said
Associated Press
son.
Romney picked up at least 129
at a news conference announcWhatever the outcome in Ohio, delegates during the evening, Saning the reward, standing against a
WASHINGTON — Rick San- Romney was on track to pad his torum 47, Gingrich 42 and Paul at
backdrop of dozens of current and
torum and Mitt Romney split six lead in the hunt for delegates to the least 10.
former FBI agents.
states and dueled for supremacy Republican National Convention.
That gave the former MassaThe case has increasingly frusin Ohio on a Super Tuesday that Not surprisingly, he focused on the chusetts governor 332, more than
trated investigators, who have
stretched from one end of the delegate chase.
all his rivals combined, including
relied unsuccessfully on evolving
country to the other in the most
“This is a process of gather- endorsements from members of
strategies — including diplomacy
turbulent Republican presidential ing enough delegates to become the Republican National Commitand the public release of a proofrace in a generation.
the nominee, and I think we’re on tee who automatically attend the
of-life video — in hopes of finding
Santorum broke through in track to have that happen,” he told convention and can support any
Levinson.
primaries in Oklahoma and Ten- reporters as he arrived home in candidate they choose.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinnessee and in the North Dakota Massachusetts to vote in the priSantorum had 139 delegates,
ton announced last March that
caucuses. Romney had a home- mary.
Gingrich 75 and Paul 35. It takes
Levinson was alive and called on
state win in Massachusetts to go
Later, he told supporters, “I’m 1,144 delegates to win the nomiIran to help, and U.S. officials met
with victories in Vermont and Vir- going to get this nomination.”
nation at the Republican National
privately with members of the Iraginia.
Yet Santorum’s multiple victo- Convention in Tampa, Fla., this
nian government to discuss the
Ohio was the marquee match- ries, coupled with Gingrich’s win, summer.
case.
up of the night, a second industrial provided fresh evidence that RomIn interviews as voters left their
The family in December restate showdown in as many weeks ney’s conservative rivals retain the polling places, Republicans in state
leased a video, received in Novemfor the two rivals. Of all the Super ability to outpoll him in certain after state said the economy was
ber 2010 in an email from an unTuesday states, it drew the most parts of the country despite his the top issue and an ability to deknown address, showing a haggard
campaigning and television adver- huge organizational and financial feat Obama was what mattered
Levinson pleading for help.
tisements, and for good reason— advantages.
most as they made their Super
The short video generated
no Republican has ever won the
Santorum waited until Okla- Tuesday choices.
enormous publicity but no conWhite House without carrying the homa and Tennessee fell into his
They also indicated nagging
crete leads, and no captor followed
state in the fall.
column before speaking to cheer- concerns about the candidate they
up with any demands.
With votes tallied in 77 percent ing supporters in Ohio.
supported, even in Massachusetts,
Mueller’s attendance at the
of the state’s precincts, Santorum
“We’re going to win a few. We’re There, one-third of all primary
was winning 38 percent of the vote going to lose a few. But as it looks voters said they had reservations,
to 37 for Romney, 15 percent for right now, we’re going to get a and about three-quarters of those
Newt Gingrich and 9 percent for couple of gold medals and a whole voted for Romney.
Ron Paul.
passel of silver,” he said.
Massachusetts is a reliably
Gingrich had a victory in his
In all, there were primaries in Democratic state in most presidenBy Mallory Hisler
column - his first win in more than Virginia, Vermont, Ohio, Massa- tial elections, but in Ohio, 41 perReporter
six weeks. He triumphed at home chusetts, Georgia, Tennessee and cent of primary voters said they,
in Georgia, but had to share the Oklahoma. Caucuses in North Da- too, had reservations about the
Baylor Law School beat out
delegates.
kota, Idaho and Alaska rounded candidate they supported. No Re- Baylor Law School in a recent
Paul pinned his hopes on Idaho out the calendar.
publican has ever won the White American Association for Justice
and Alaska as he scratched for his
Some 419 delegates were at House without capturing Ohio.
Regional Student Trial Advocacy
Competition. The law school sent
from Page 1
two teams to the regional competition last Thursday to Sunday in
Dallas, where they both knocked
out 14 other teams to make it to the
final round and ended up competing against each other for the title
of regional champion.
The team consisting of Ben
Yelverton, Akilah Craig, George
Cowden and Justin Fowles were
the winners of the competition and
will advance to the association’s national competition later this month
in Las Vegas.
The Baylor team that came
in second was made up of law
students Michael Bristow, Leah
Maxwell, Stephen Netherton and
Blayne Thompson.
Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor
Between the two four-member
Most affected are dogs caged within close proximity to each other at shelters such as the Humane Society of
teams,
only one student had previCentral Texas, located on Circle Road.
ously competed in mock trial.
per,” Ford said. “That’s cruel for the has changed its vaccination policy
Ervin said.
“This is definitely an unusual
in response.
According to Gina Ford, Hu- animal as well as the adopter.”
group,” Jim Wren, associate pro“We will be vaccinating all ani- fessor of law and one of the team’s
Although the Humane Society
mane Society director, it’s standard
procedure for shelters to vaccinate. vaccinates every dog for distemper, mals, starting April first, on imme- faculty coaches, said.
However, vaccines also won’t work due to the volume of dogs it gets diate intake,” Ford said.
Wren, who coached a national
For Lowry, this all came too championship team in 2007 and
on animals that have already con- each week it can sometimes take
several days for a dog to receive all late. Veterinarians had to eutha- a national semi-finalist team in
tracted the disease.
nize her dog when it became ap- 2009, said this made the groups’
Since it can take between two the required vaccines.
During an outbreak, even a parent that it wasn’t improving.
and three weeks for dogs to start
success even more impressive.
The Humane Society offered to While many schools have seasons
showing symptoms, dogs can pass short exposure can be enough for
through shelters without anyone an unvaccinated dog to contract give her another dog free of charge, filled with other trial competitions
but Lowry said she won’t be getting that help prepare their competitors
the disease.
knowing they’re sick.
The Humane Society is working a new dog any time soon.
“We would never knowingly
for events such as regionals, Baysend out an animal with distem- to curb the number of cases and

Rick Santorum gains ground
in Super Tuesday primaries

Associated Press

Christine Levinson, wife of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, joined by
FBI Director Robert Mueller, left, and Washington Field Office Assistant
Director in Charge James McJunkin, speaks on Tuesday during a news
conference in Washington.

event as well as the $1 million
reward was intended to focus
renewed public attention on a
5-year-old disappearance.
Clinton called Levinson’s return
a “priority” in a statement Tuesday,
and called on the Iranian government to help secure his return.
Levinson’s family has said he
was there investigating cigarette
smuggling for a corporate client.
He spent one night in a hotel,
meeting a fugitive named Dawud
Salahuddin, a man wanted for
the slaying of an Iranian diplomat
in the United States in 1980. He
checked out of his hotel and vanished.
James McJunkin, the assistant
director in charge of the FBI’s
Washington field office, said investigators have reason to believe
Levinson is still alive, and that
there are indications he’s being
held along the borders of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.
Still, the U.S. still has not identified the kidnappers or captors.
“We just haven’t had that last
perfect hint or clue that’s allowed
us to bring him home,” McJunkin
said.
Levinson, who turns 64 on Saturday, has diabetes and also has
been diagnosed with hypertension,
McJunkin said.

“There are no words to describe
the nightmare my family and I
have been living every day,” said
Levinson’s wife, Christine, who
also attended the news conference.
“I never imagined that we would
still be waiting for Bob to come
home five years later.”
Christine Levinson said she still
held out hope that her husband
would be rescued, like the two
Western hostages safely recovered
in Somalia in January by a Navy
SEALs team.
“I look forward to the day
when the president calls me with
the same good news that Bob has
been found and is coming home,”
she said.
The publicity campaign includes billboards, radio messages
and flyers, primarily in Pakistan
and Afghanistan, as well as a telephone tip line allowing callers to
confidentially provide information.
McJunkin acknowledged that
a reward of this size was unusual
for an FBI investigation, but said,
“What we’re trying to do is underline the importance this case has to
the FBI,” he said.
Anyone with information
is urged to contact the FBI at
https://tips.fbi.gov.

Baylor Law defeats self in competition

DISTEMPER

PARIS

from Page 1

tion still a few months away, Farrell said he is more excited than
nervous.
Still, overcoming performance
anxiety is something all musicians
generally have to practice, he said,
adding that this is the biggest issue
for performers, second to their actual skill.
“You have to learn how to focus that energy to make yourself
perform better instead of losing
focus,” he said.
Farrell said he practices about
30 hours a week —more than the

three hours a day that Phillips requires — and is now starting to
work on the new piece for the Paris
competition.
Phillips said he is very proud of
Farrell, and humbled and honored
to teach such talented students.
But he can’t take much credit,
he said.
“I feel like I’ve instilled in them
a strong work ethic and given them
the tools, but they’ve been the ones
to show a tenacious effort and zeal,
and they deserve the credit,” Phillips said.

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lor’s preparation is quite different,
Wren said.
“We basically put together a
team for a specific competition,”
Wren said. “They don’t necessarily
have experience before that.”
Kathy Serr, the law school’s advocacy program coordinator, said
the low number of returning participants is not because of disinterest in the competition, but rather
finding the time to participate.
“It’s not a problem of retention,”
Serr said. “We don’t allow our firstyear law students to compete in
external competitions because we
want to give them time to adjust
from being an undergraduate to
being a law student.”
Serr said that while some get
the chance to participate in the latter part of their second year, many
do not get to until their third and
final year at law school, after they
have gone through Baylor’s rigorous practice court.
In order to prepare the team for
the mock trial competitions, the
coaches have Baylor Law School
alumni help out.
“To prepare for the competitions, they have been put in front
of Baylor trial lawyer [alumni] to
help critique them,” he said. “We
have taken them to the federal
court in Tyler and down to Austin.”
The mock trials usually deal
with a specific type of case.
“AAJ’s mock trial cases are always civil cases and tend to deal
with products liability, personal
injury or medical malpractice/negligence issues,” the American As-

sociation for Justice website states.
Mock trials are generally
thought of as a practical way to
prepare law students for trial law.
Teams will be judged on their
skills in case preparation, opening
statements, use of facts, the examination of lay and expert witnesses
and closing arguments.
The team that wins the national
competition, held March 22-25,
will receive an all-inclusive trip to
the American Association for Justice annual convention in Chicago.
Each of the members will also
get a $2,000 scholarship, courtesy
of the Melvin M. Belli Society.
This is the second competition win for Baylor Law School
mock trial teams this year. Late
last month, two teams — including
Chaille Graft Walraven, Joel Towner, Mark Walraven and Steven Lopez — competed in the national
trial competition, where they won
all 10 trials they participated in and
advanced to finals.
The law school’s moot court
teams have also enjoyed success at
competitions this year.
In February, one team won the
National Security Law Moot Court
Competition and a second team
advanced to the semi-finals, a third
team garnered a win at the Elliot
Cup and a fourth team won the
American Bar Association Moot
Court Regional Competition.
Baylor Law also won the Transactional Law Meet Midwest Regional February in its first time
participating at the competition.

Are virtual sports more enticing to video gamers than actual
athletics? Are the graphical elements in those games the reason
for that?
Dr. Daniel Shafer, assistant professor in the department of communication studies, film and digital media division, and his team of
graduate students ask these questions and more with their current
video game study.
Ending this week, the study,
which started four weeks ago, examine student responses to a specific genre of video games. With
“Madden NFL 2012” and “NBA
2K11,” the research looks at the
believability factor of sports video
games.
Shafer says the students sign up
for a research session voluntarily.
They come to the lab, play a video
game and then answer questions
about their emotional reactions
with the game as a whole.
The questionnaire measures
players’ perceptions of how much
suspense they felt, player perceptions of their own individual skill
set at the game, to what degree they
felt they had a sense of spatial presence (actually being in the game
world) and social presence (being
with other
actual beings in the
game) and
their enjoyment of the
game experience.
Shafer
also
said
that gamers of all
experience
levels could
have participated
with
the
conducted
research.
“The reason for this,” Shafer
said, “is that A: a sufficiently large
population of gamers is very difficult to find and B: we need pure
reactions to games as well as reactions from experienced players.”
Waco resident and master’s
candidate Jenna Ables is working with Shafer to help with the
student volunteers. She said that
games have advanced with time.
“Video game research is important to media studies as it encompasses many of the current trends
that are happening in the current
state of media,” Abels said. “Video
games are influencing the way media consumers are interacting with
TV, movies, the Internet and media in general.”
Whether the students participating are novice or expert players,
the data supports enough information for Shafer and his team of

graduate student conducting the
lab work for observations. A more
general phenomenon is likely to
occur with a broad range of student gamers rather than as limited
to experienced gamers.
Based on previous research
done by Shafer in the past, the
study is evaluating the following
hypotheses (educated predictions):
Hypothesis 1: Players with a
higher level of fanship for the sport
they are playing will experience
greater enjoyment than those with
a lower level of fanship.
Hypothesis 2: Players who win
the game will experience greater
enjoyment than those who lose.
Hypothesis 3: Outcome will be
a moderator between fanship and
enjoyment.
Hypothesis 4: Perceived suspense will be a significant, positive
predictor of enjoyment of a sports
video game.
Hypothesis 5: Both spatial and
social presence will be a significant, positive predictor of enjoyment of sports video games.
Shafer goes into the specific
details about why his work with
video game research studies is so
important.
“A lot of people care about this
stuff more than they might realize,” Shafer said. “More and more
people are spending more of their
time
playing
games, and the
over whelming
question is, ‘Is
that a bad thing or
a good thing?’”
There is research and writing
that supports both
perspectives, but
how do some of
the students who
participated in the
study feel about it
all?
“Today, I realized I don’t much
care for ‘NBA
2K11,’” Houston sophomore Drew
Kayle said. “But hopefully I was
able to provide enough help. I can
only assume that my hour spent
with a controller in hand is a valuable resource towards pushing the
limits of modern science.”
Shafer said games can be selfdestructive, but on the other side
they can provide users with endless
possibilities for good as well.
“There is research that notes
the dangers of game addiction,”
Shafer said.
Games can be a testing ground
for new and innovative problemsolving techniques. They can be
used for team-building exercises.
They can be used as teaching tools
or they can just be a way to relieve
some stress. Either way, Baylor has
Shafer and his team of students to
question the role one of the most
popular forms of entertainment
media today.

NEW YORK — Tracey Gold
and Alan Thicke, who played Kirk
Cameron’s sister and father on the
1980s sitcom “Growing Pains,”
have joined the chorus of performers taking exception to their castmate’s anti-gay comments.
Gold, a long-married mom
of four, tweeted Sunday, “I am a
strong supporter of the #LGBT
Community, and I believe in equal
rights for all.”
Thicke, after first tweeting Sun-

A&E Brief
Moontower Comedy
& Oddity Festival:
Moontower Comedy &
Oddity Festival announced
Tuesday its updated comic
lineup, with additions including Dana Gould, Marc
Maron, Bil Dwyer, and the
comics of Theme Park.
Dana Gould is perhaps
best known for his TV work,
including “The Simpsons,”
“Family Guy” and frequent
appearances on the comedy
talk show “Real Time with
Bill Maher,” which airs on
HBO.
This is the first anual
Moontower Comedy &
Oddity Festival and it is taking place April 25 to 28 in
Austin.

day that, “I’ll address kirk’s comments as soon as I recover from
rush limbaugh’s,” wrote Monday
afternoon that he was “getting
(Cameron) some new books. The
Old Testament simply can’t be expected to explain everything.”
Cameron, 41 — a born-again
Christian who has starred in faithbased movies and co-founded the
Bellflower, Calif.-based evangelical ministry The Way of the Master in 2002 — told CNN’s Piers
Morgan on Friday that being gay
is “detrimental,” “unnatural” and
“ultimately destructive to so many
of the foundations of civilization.”

He said if one of his children were
to come out as gay, “I’m going to
say, ‘There are all sorts of issues
we need to wrestle through in our
life. Just because you feel one way
doesn’t mean we should act on everything we feel.’”
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance
Against Defamation (GLAAD)
immediately responded, calling
Cameron “dated” and “out of step.”
And the remarks sent numerous
celebrities to Twitter to vent their
feelings.
Roseanne Barr wrote on Sunday, “kirk or kurt or whatever cameron is an accomplice to murder

with his hate speech.”
Debra Messing, acknowledging
Cameron’s right to his beliefs, said,
“I can’t be forced to be tolerant of
intolerance. I find his words hurtful and ‘destructive’ — but yes; free
speech.”
“Modern Family” star Jesse Tyler Ferguson wrote, “The only unnatural thing about me being gay
is that I had a crush on Kirk Cameron until about 24 hours ago.”
As for Morgan, TMZ reported
that the talk-show host said Cameron was brave for sticking to what
he believes, even if most people
find his views to be “antiquated.”

McClatchy-Tribune

33 Charged particle
34 Like 2011, e.g.
35 Anti’s cry
37 Plot outline
40 “Delightful!”
41 Causes of pallors
42 Phil Rizzuto’s number
43 Fall implements
45 Tried to lose, in a way
46 Fate
47 Freeze, as a road
48 Herb in a bouquet garni
49 Slot in a stable
50 Country that’s nearly 25
times as long as its average
width
51 Crosses one’s fingers
52 Liability’s opposite
56 The other one
58 Key letter
59 Before, to a bard

Baylor football left the Alamadome field victorious on Dec. 30,
2011. The team returned the field
Tuesday for the first time since to
begin spring practice.
“It’s just fun to back on the
field. 6:30 workouts every morning get kind of old,” senior quarterback Nick Florence said. “Let’s
get out on the field and toss the ball
around. It’s a game and it’s fun, and
that’s why we all do it because we
have a blast doing it.”
With Robert Griffin III headed
to the NFL, the focus of the Bears
for next fall is on the quarterback
position. Florence is currently slated to be the starter for the Bears.
“We’re grateful and thankful
for everything Robert did for Baylor University and Baylor football
in general,” head coach Art Briles
said. “We’re happy for his journey,
proud of his journey, excited about
his journey in the NFL. It’s a process. Your kids grow up and you
don’t want to keep them around
the house until they’re 28 or [29] I
don’t think. Tap them on the rear
end and say, ‘Y’all get out there
and see if you can make it on your
own.’”
Next season will not be the
first time Florence has taken snaps

Tweets about
men’s basketball’s
new uniforms

Baylor released its new
adizero uniforms Tuesday
for the Big 12 Championships. Here are some of your
tweets.

@thekuhlness — neon
yellow and zebra?
What is this? The 80’s?
@abisnab — I think
they’re hideous. It
seems weird that we
wouldn’t wear our traditional colors in the
tournament when we’re
most visible.

for the Bears. When Griffin went
down with his knee injury in 2009,
Florence came in and started seven games, passing for 1,786 yards
and six touchdowns. He also came
in for Griffin in the second half
against Texas Tech and passed for
151 yards and two touchdowns.
“It’s huge. It’s confidence building right there,” he said. “I know I
can do it. I’ve done it before. I’ve
done it for four years now. Physically I’ve matured from 2009. So
I’m excited. All the puzzle pieces
are falling into place.”
Briles said Florence and sopho-

“I’ve not been handed
the keys, and I don’t
want it to be that way.
I want to go out and
compete...”
Nick Florence | Quarterback

more Bryce Petty both have a shot
at starting quarterback; Florence is
receiving the edge right now due to
his experience.
“Bryce is going to do a great
job,” Florence said. “We’re going to
compete for it. I’ve not been handed the keys, and I don’t want it to
be that way. I want to go out and

compete for the job and make us
both better.”
The Bears lost another big senior in running back Terrance
Ganaway, who set a school record
by rushing for 1,547 yards and 21
touchdowns. Three running backs
will look to take his place: senior
Jarred Salubi, junior Glasco Martin
and sophomore Lache Seastrunk.
Another big hit for Baylor came
in the receiving corps with the departure of Kendall Wright. Wright
set multiple school records in receiving and was the main target for
Griffin.
“I feel like it will be a more
spread-the-wealth type thing ,” senior receiver Lanear Sampson said.
“You know we had Kendall for four
years. He’s kind of been that guy.
But now, me and Terrance [Williams] have played. Tevin Reese
have played a lot. We need some
young guys to come up and take
some playing time.”
The offensive line will go
through some transition as former
center Philip Blake graduated and
headed for the NFL. Briles said
senior Ivory Wade could take the
starting center position.
“He’s smart. He’s fast. He’s experience. Got good hand-eye coordination. And he’s skilled,” Briles
said. “He fits everything we’re
looking for. And to us that’s one of

the more important positions on
the offensive side of the ball. He’s a
guy that’s been in the grind a little
bit. He understands the game and
we’ll see what he can do.”
The defense will begin its second season under coordinator Phil
Bennett.
“We’ve been more comfortable
than we were last year, even at the
end of the season,” junior nickelback Ahmad Dixon said. “We feel a
whole lot better than we did going
into the bowl game. We’re confident and ready to roll.”
The squad remains largely the

The following inning Baylor
would add another run off a sac fly
by Shelton to make the score 3-0.
From then on the Lady Bears
could not seem to string a set of
hits together. Louisiana Tech got
on the scoreboard with an earned
run in the top of the fifth.
Junior right-handed pitcher
Courtney Repka got the win for
the Lady Bears, pitching five innings and allowing five hits, walking three and striking out one.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Liz Paul entered the circle in the
sixth and got the save, allowing
only one hit.
“Courtney was doing a great
job,” Turk said. “She kept getting
on top of her count so I think that
was definitely motivational for us.
And we just tried to stay in it.”
Paul remained in the circle for
the second game, one that took a
while for either team to get on the
scoreboard.
She got the win with six innings
pitched, allowing one earned run
and one walk and striking out one.
Repka came in and got the save
in the top of the seventh going
three up, three down.
In the bottom of the fourth the

Lady Bears went back to the dugout stranding three base runners
after recording a trio of hits.
Baylor finally found a way
home due to a suicide squeeze by
sophomore left fielder Shelbi Redfearn, scoring two Lady Bears.
“I feel like everyone was seeing the ball well and feeding off
each other, kind of passing the bat,”
Shelton said. “I just feel like we
were swinging the bat well.”
Louisiana Tech answered in
the top of the sixth with a run off a
single to left-center field.
The Lady Bears added insurance in the bottom of the sixth after a leadoff triple by junior catcher
Kelsi Kettler, the first of her career.
Freshman shortstop Jordan
Strickland would knock her in
with a sacrifice fly to center field.
“I thought we really just had the
best two games offensively, although
we didn’t put up a lot of runs,”
Moore said. “Our at-bat after at-bat
was quality and being aggressive
in the zone. We hit so many right
at them, especially the first game,
that you know eventually it is going
to go your way. I was pretty happy
with our offensive performance for
the first time in a long time.”

The Baylor Lady Bears bounced
back from a rough weekend in Orlando to sweep its doubleheader
with Louisiana Tech 3-1 and 3-1.
The first game started out
rough for Baylor with a pair of errors committed. However, no runs
were scored.
“Defensively that was probably
the worst outing for the first couple
innings that we have had all year,”
head coach Glenn Moore said. “I
think it’s probably pressing a little
bit, feeling you have to do more
than you really have to instead of
just playing that game. That’s usually what happens knowing the
adversity you face getting more
ground balls without Whitney
Canion. I think we have to just enjoy that.”
In the bottom of the first, senior right fielder Kayce Walker led
off by running out a grounder to
shortstop, and junior center fielder
Kathy Shelton walked.
Senior third baseman Megan
Turk stepped up to the plate and
smashed a single to left field, scoring Walker and Shelton.

Follow us on Twitter
@bulariat for
live updates on
games during the
Big 12 tournament.

@hkkirch — i like the
black ones, but the allneon is a little much.
and i love neon. #yikes

@NathanMc — “And
win all our victories for
the Ne! On! Greeeeen!”
just doesn’t have the
same ring to it.

end Tevin Elliot could miss the
entire spring with a knee injury, as
could fellow defensive end, senior
Gary Mason Jr, with a shin injury.
Senior guard Cameron Kaufhold is out with a shoulder injury,
and senior cornerback Chance
Casey is out following knee surgery.
Spring practice is scheduled for
March 6, 8, 19, 21, 23, 27, 29, 30,
31, April 3, 5, 10, 12, 13 and 14.
“The great thing about it is in
the spring you can put your practices and have open days in between them,” Briles said.

No. 15 softball takes both games of doubleheader

@T_Prehn — not
traditional. Sort of an
eye-sore. #gobacktoGreenandGold

@Lizzy_Joyce — I’m
going to need to wear
sunglasses when I
watch them play now.

same, as the only departing seniors
were defensive tackles Nicolas
Jean-Baptiste and Tracy Robertson, and linebacker Elliot Coffey.
Seniors Kaeron Johnson and
Nick Johnson look to replace the
defensive tackles. The middle linebacker position is in flux, as sophomore Bryce Hager and junior
LeQuinc McCall could take the
spot, as well as junior college transfer Eddie Lackey from Riverside
Community College in California.
The Bears are dealing with a
number of injuries heading into
spring practice. Junior defensive

Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor

Serve, return, keep on rolling

Junior Roberto Maytin returns the ball during a tennis match against Maryland Tuesday at Hurd Tennis
Center. Baylor men’s tennis extended its winning streak to four matches with a 5-2 victory over Maryland.
Maytin and Mate Zsiga upset the 36th-ranked doubles pair, Maros Horny and John Collins, 9-8.

Baylor’s bullpen lost control late in Tuesday night’s game
against TCU, and the Bears fell,
9-4. Junior Colt Browder took the
loss after allowing two costly walks
that helped the Horned Frogs grab
an eighth-inning lead they would
not lose.
Baylor entered the bottom of
the eighth ahead 4-3 but surrendered six runs in the frame.
After striking out the leadoff
hitter, the Bears allowed four consecutive walks that included two
from Browder and brought home
the tying run.
Junior Nick Wright, whose
walk let TCU tie the game at four,
later gave up a 2-RBI single and
hit back-to-back batters, the first
of which loaded the bases and the
second of which gave the Horned
Frogs a 7-4 advantage.
TCU managed a dubious honor

despite grabbing the win, tying an
NCAA team single game record
with 10 hit batters.
With Baylor’s three hit batters,
Tuesday’s game set a new NCAA
record of combined hit batters.
The previous record was 12 when
South Florida (8 hit batters) faced
Central Florida (4) on April 1,
2008.
The Bears briefly took a 4-3
lead in the top of the seventh. Junior Josh Ludy drove in the first of
three runs in the inning with an
RBI-groundout, junior Logan Vick
drilled an RBI-double and freshman Michael Howard reached on
a throwing error that allowed Vick
to score.
Ludy finished the game with
two RBI and is tied for second on
the team in batting average at .327.
The Bears next face Michigan
State (4-6) today at 7:35 p.m. at
Baylor Ballpark. The Spartans were
swept by Texas A&M last weekend
in a three game series.